Fresh fears as quakes hit San Salvador

Residents asked to leave homes

The San Salvador government asked people to evacuate their homes yesterday after three small earthquakes shook the country, which is still recovering from a January 13 earthquake that killed 726 people.

The San Salvador government asked people to evacuate their homes yesterday after three small earthquakes shook the country, which is still recovering from a January 13 earthquake that killed 726 people.

There were no reported injuries or damage from the quakes.

A 4.3-magnitude earthquake struck the Pacific coast in the eastern province of Usulutan at 5:41am local time. A second, 3.4-magnitude earthquake hit at 2:03pm in the southern part of the country near the beach Los Blancos, while a third, 3.9 magnitude earthquake occurred 22 minutes later near the San Juan del Gozo peninsula

Government officials asked hundreds of residents in high-risk areas in the city of Santa Tecla, 10 miles west of San Salvador, to evacuate their homes after yesterday's quakes.

Santa Tecla was one of the hardest hit areas January 13 when a 7.6-magnitude earthquake violently shook the country, killing 726 people, injuring 4,440 and damaging or destroying more than 190,000 homes. More than 850 public buildings also were damaged in the quake.

Dozens of local and foreign volunteers in Santa Tecla are still digging for bodies buried under mountains of dirt. The earthquake unleashed a landslide that buried 300 homes, and local residents say as many as 1,000 people are still missing.

A massive 7.9-magnitude earthquake hit western India on Friday, killing at least 6,000 people. The death toll was expected to surpass 10,000.